Comments on: Felipe Massa pips Lewis Hamilton to pole (2008 European Grand Prix qualifying)

By: Paige

Paige — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:19:54 +0000

chunter,

the STRs have been very competitive all weekend in lap times.

The reason why I said the STRs looked light is due to the differential in their lap times from Q2 to Q3. Their Q3 times are about 2.3 seconds slower than their Q2 time, a margin which usually indicates that the car is heavy on fuel. (Hell, Heidfeld’s Q3 is 2.8 seconds slower than his Q2!) The top-2 rows had Q3 lap times 1.1-1.3 seconds slower than their Q2 lap times, which indicates to me that they’re running much lighter on fuel than the guys from row three on back.

By: chunter

chunter — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:04:20 +0000

I don’t think the STRs are heavy; I think they are aerodynamically poor if they are fast in the traps but otherwise non-competitive. Who knew these cars had it in them.

This means the next question is: What happened, Force India?

By: the limit

the limit — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:54:13 +0000

It would seem that Vettel really is a guy to watch for the future, no wonder Red Bull moved heaven and earth to keep him. A real gutsy display in a car that would never have been considered a challenger to the front runners.
My surprise performance, or lack of performance, came from Raikkonen. He just cannot find the groove at the moment, and coming off his much needed second place in Hungary, I was expecting better things.
Alonso maybe one to watch tomorrow. I am interested to see just how much that mistake cost him on his quali lap, in comparison to his true race pace tomorrow. I am sure his motivation will be there as always, especially infront of his home fans.
The dark horse though, and a man who may steal the thunder of the others, could be Robert Kubica. He is in the pound seats if anything happens to Massa or Hamilton, and realistically needs a win to stay in the championship hunt.

My predictions for the top three:

1. Kubica
2. Massa
3. Hamilton

By: Paige

Paige — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:38:08 +0000

Vettel did make a small mistake, but it wasn’t enough to cost him that much, I don’t think. I really think both are running heavy, and that Vettel is running at least as heavy as Kovalainen.

By: F1Punter

F1Punter — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:03:54 +0000

Do you think that both STRs are heavy Paige?

As Keith points out Vettel made a small mistake. I wonder whether they opted for one light and one heavy?

By: Paige

Paige — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:01:49 +0000

I’m very impressed with the pace of the STRs this weekend. They’re blitzing the mother team.

McLaren pulled a brilliant strategy maneuver running Kovalainen a bit heavier than the guys who qualified top-4. He’s running a bit lighter than the guys who qualified behind him, but his time was 1.8 seconds off of the time of his Q2 lap, whereas the guys in the first two rows were 1.1-1.3 seconds off. He’s still a little lighter than the guys from 6-10 (Who all ran from 2.3-2.8 seconds off their Q2 laps), but he’ll be in position to remain out if there is a safety car period before the first stops. This way, he can remain out while Hamilton comes in (thus avoiding a queue), build a lead, and then come out ahead of a Ferrari after his first pit stop. Well done, Ron Dennis!

The STRs are also running heavy, as are Trulli, Heidfeld, and Rosberg. I’m sure they were all thinking the same thing: prepare for a saftey car and catch the top-2 rows with their pants down. Even if the safety car is early and doesn’t quite come close enough to the pit window for stops to occur, it would still occur at a critical time during the Grand Prix when the top cars could be building a gap for the first round of stops, as two or three laps under a safety car could rob them of the opportunity to put 4-5 seconds on the rest of the field. Very nice thinking by these teams, and a very good job by McLaren to counter..

By: Missouri Mike

Missouri Mike — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:21:06 +0000

Had alot of fun watching qualifying today. The US commentators on the SpeedTV channel were watching the in-car camera view of one of the BMWs making a run, and said it looked like they were racing TIE fighters from Star Wars, with the concrete walls looming up so close on both sides from blind corner to blind corner.

What happened to Timo Glock? Early it seemed like he was clicking off some good laps, and the talking heads were commenting on how quick he was, and then he didn’t make it out of Q2. Good run for Jarno in qualifying, hopefully we won’t see a Trulli train tomorrow considering how difficult passing is going to be.

By: michael counsell

michael counsell — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:14:54 +0000

The first 4 could be low on fuel as the gap to the rest wasn’t apparent in Q1 or Q2 or any of the practise sessions.

By: Sush

Sush — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:12:05 +0000

4 guys in a bar(including myself) and two chefs, cheered for vettel during Q2

it was magical.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:13:06 +0000

Stealthman – fixed, thanks